Rising Stars
by Windpheonix
Summary: It is a race against time to cure the rapid aging of the clones. To recover a vital piece of research they Jesse and Fives have to go undercover. Only this time they will have to call upon the help of a few friends.


**Note:** Well hello hello! It has been a good long while since I have posted anything, but I am most certainly still around.

This is a Sequel to "Small Stars", but I hope that reading it is not a requirement for reading this story.

* * *

Clouds hung low in the sky, a light drizzle covered the city.

With almost no people on the streets it was the perfect weather, at least fpr their purposes.

Lucia shrugged, ducking a bit more into the alley she was hiding in. Her palms were sweaty and she was glad for the fabric lining the inside of her gloves. Slick palms would be a hindrance in the next part of their plans.

She was nothing more than one inconspicuous civvy looking for shelter from the weather. She told herself. Stay calm, do not look around too much. There is no reason to be worrying.

There is every reason to be worrying. A part of her spoke up, still quiet hysterical over just what they were doing.

The comlink in her ear chirped.

"All in position?" Three asked.

Lucia's heart began to race, pounding in her chest. Her fingers trembled as she adjusted her earpiece. "In position, three."

"They made it out. Hot in pursuit, plan beta."

The calm before the storm was over. They were coming. Sirens sounded in the distance, coming closer, echoing from the walls of the streets.

Lucia revved her speeder, closing her eyes for a moment. Suddenly, everything was gone, gone were the sweaty palms, shivering and second guessing. She had to get this right, she was going to get this right.

The sounds echoed from the narrow streets, making it hard to judge the distance, but she knew which route they were taking. The instructions had been precise down to the fraction of a second.

It was a small job she had, and no small one.

The lights came closer, much closer. The first speeder came through.

Second was hers.

She shot forward. She dodged left, right. One arm was held out, she grabbed a bag.

Lucia let herself be carried with the group for a moment, at the next junction she turned left, they scattered.

The world became a blur, every thought forgotten as Lucia used every fibre of her being to squeeze the greatest speed out of her machine and herself.

Left, right, left, smaller and smaller became the streets and then, suddenly, Lucia was alone.

She slowed down, than stopped, killed the engine next to a wild dumpster and breathed though her mouth; careful not to make a sound she held her head high. The Sirens were there, but faint, far in the distance.

Lucia felt a giggle rising, bit her lip and doubled forward as the urge to laugh shook her body.

Tears of silent mirth filled her eyes as the silent laugher let up. She opened her visor and wiped them off, then checked her position on her map, a small blinking dot showing her destination.

"But first." She muttered, climbing off her speeder. "A few things."

The indent-chip of her speeder was changed quickly, child's play for a mechanic.

Two large stickers of popular bands changing the appearance of the machine.

Calloused fingers pushed the last bubble out from the design, then Lucia straightened up and pulled her jacket off, throwing it on the dumpster.

She wore a bright coloured tunic under it, pulled the hem out of her trousers, letting it fall free and swing around her.

"Hope that fits the story." Lucia muttered, glancing at her hips as she brushed over the fabric.

The helmet followed, making a nice, satisfying 'thud' as it landed in the moist garbage.

"So…" Lucia sighed. She ran a hand through her hair, bright blond with artificial curls.

She frowned, trying to tuck a few strands behind her ears, feeling the cold as she climbed back onto her speeder. It was not the night that made her shiver. It was the thought that she had to come out of the shadows again.

She filled her lungs with a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."

Her speed was slow, Lucia made an effort to drive slow, to imitate a novice rider, scared in the stormy night.

Her goal turned out to be a small house, fenced in by a low fence.

Lucia slowed even more, one look behind her, one left and right.

"No one here." How could there, it was the middle of the night in the outskirts of the city. No sane person would cruise around here.

One well-aimed throw send the small bag over the fence, then Lucia sped off, perhaps a little too fast to fit in with the image she was trying to project.

The streets became busier as she neared the inner part of the city and Lucia slowed down once more, shifting her seat, gripped the handles tighter.

It did not take long until a road block popped up; an officer waved her over, asking rudely for her papers.

She did not have to act much to portray the ditz y young woman.

"Something the matter Sir? A lot going on tonight." Lucia giggled voice high from excitement and fear. Perfect. Hide what you must hide under a layer of truth.

Her fingers itched for something to do, so she grabbed a part of her curls, moist from the rain, and twirled it around a finger.

She batted her eyelashes at the men, giving a nervous grin.

"Well, there has been an interruption ma'am." The officer glanced at Lucia, at the stickers on her speeder and ditzy grin.

"It is just a routine thing. May I ask where you have been?"

"At a party Sir. It was sooo great" Lucia's voice went high in excitement; she blushed heavily in the dark rain.

"There was a life show of the Nu'Kara, the newest band from Ryloth." Luckily her blush was actually helping her along, considering her cover story. The front singer was a deep blue Twi'lek and the object of fancy for many young women.

She bit her lip, rubbing a finger over the sticker of the band on her speeder. Lucia could almost hear the officers rolling their eyes.

The men handed her the flimsi back, which she stored with shaking fingers.

They waved her off, and Lucia followed quickly, a bit too quickly, even killing the engine by accident before driving off.

She would have loved to blame that on her playing the clumsy fan girl, but honestly, it was her nerves.

It did not take long for her to reach her home, the garage opened at the push of a button.

Lucia only breathed freely as the door closed behind her. Cosy warmth greeted her as she pushed her speeder into it's corner of their shop.

Strong arms reach around her. Carth hugged her close, gently nuzzling her hair.

"Hey there darling." He whispered while nuzzling her hair.

"I like that look on you. How did it go?"

Lucia sighed, reaching up and wrapped her cold, clammy fingers around his large, warm hands.

"It went well, and thank you, but it really gets in the way." She answered, and then twisted in his arms until she faced her fiancée.

She stood on her toes, leaning into his broad chest, planting a soft kiss on his lips.

"How was your day?" She asked, basking in the familiar warmth of his body.

Carth hugged her tighter, then steered Lucia gently towards the exit.

"Exciting." He said, "but all went well." Not even here, in the confines of their own home could they speak truly freely.

They both knew which part the other had played during this day. He had been a distraction, another group of speeders.

Lucia felt lighter, would not have been surprised to see herself hovering a hand over the floor, she was so relieved all had gone well.

She pulled Carth into the fresher, planting a kiss on his warm lips before closing the door behind them.

* * *

So far had been a rather calm week, but something told Jester this was about to change.

Perhaps it was the fact that Kor had not stomped down the main corridor jet, to fetch his daily dose of caf. Perhaps the easy spring in Five's steps had tipped him off, but anyway, something told Jester things were about to take a new turn.

But no matter what was going on, Jester stretched out, arms far above his head, feeling his spine plop, they were going to make it through. He sighed, then pushed himself up, chair bumping against the cabinets.

Finally, he heard Kor come down from the cockpit. Heavy boots clanged on the metal floor, just like the boots on their prison floor had sounded.

Heavy boots on reaccrete floor, heavy step echoing from cold, damp walls...

Jester took a deep breath, trying to swallow around the pressure in his throat. He grabbed a bag of caf from the cabinets, filled the machine with shaking fingers.

Kor squeezed past him, his belt nearly caught on Jester's shirt. If the older mando had noticed the clone's momentary lapse he didn't mention it.

Jester sighed again and settled down net to Kor at the tiny table, the loud grinding of their caf machine in his back.

Like so many things it had taken time getting used to, but today it was a very welcome noise. It sounded of familiarity, of routine and safety.

Kor pulled a short blaster out from his belt, again bumping into Jester, and started cleaning t.

Fives slipped into 'his' seat, across the table, back to the corridor. A big grow flashed across the table. "Well brother?" He started. "I heard you sigh across the ship today. What's eating your shebs vod?"

Jester raised an eyebrow, hotly debated telling him what was going on.

After a few moments, where Jester stared into the brown eyes of his brother and decided against it.

"It's getting a bit crowded here" He supplied. "It is even less space than in our barracks on Kamino."

Fives kept looking at his brother, it was clear that he didn't buy a word Jester had said. Dark eyes nearly bore into Jester's heart, but both had seen the same things.

In the war, none of them had talked about what had happened, would they now?

Kor slid the last piece of the gun into place, grunted as he pushed the weapon back into its hiding place.

"Stop talking around the topic. You" He pointed a straight finger at Jester. "Need to stop hiding. You have been through some deep shit, both of you. So, start talking to each other."

Both clones looked at the table, Jester coughed slightly, eliciting another startle from Fives.

"I am fine." Jester waived his brother off.

Towards Kor he gave a slight nod. "We will Kor, within time."

It was Fives turn to sigh now. He kept staring at his fingers. "We didn't talk about it in the GAR." He forced out voice almost to silent to be heard over the constant um of the engines "If we were physically fit there was nothing to be talked about."

The Caf-machine stopped its noise ad Kor twisted in his chair to fetch the old cups and the thermos.

He sat them down on the table with a resounding clank and nodded.

He poured a generous portion for all three of them as he said: "The GAR treated you like poodoo. That you can think and shoot straight doesn't mean you are alright. And with that, it's leave the mushy stuff and get to the real things."

Jester smiled into his cup, one thing he liked, very much about the mandalorians was that they were extremely practically thinking people. Also he knew Kor would be there when either of them decided to open up. He knew Fives had recovered better than he had, perhaps Jesse mused as he nursed his caf, there had been something in the ARC training.

"What is it about," he asked, very glad to have finally left the dreaded topic behind.

Kor pulled out a data pad from his seemingly endless pockets and laid it on the table.

"Skirata called us, well me." Kor made a short paused. "They have a scientist here, or at least contact with, that they believe can help cure the age effect. A full life spans for all of you, or at least another step towards it."

Fives got his caf down the wrong tube, started coughing. "What..." He stared at Kor. "You can't be serious. The guys have been talking about this for ages. I mean feck. I have heard rumour about this as way back as Kamino!"

"And most of them vanished overnight." Jester added, unusually acidic. Fives head snapped up at the atypical bitterness in Jester's voice.

His brother sighed, shook his head. "Sorry vod We have both given up hope, pretty much all of us have."

Fives grimaced, nodded.

"Well, I thought you would want to have this little heart-to heart session later? Well... the story is that they something else, or rather, someone." Kor interrupted. Health had a big part in Mandalorian culture, but so did business.

Now the clones perked up.

"A chance to leave this forsaken ship?" Fives grinned and ducked as Kor pretended to throw the cup at him.

"If only the caf was already gone you di'kut." He growled. "Not gonna waste this brew on you. This little ship may not have been intended for one of mine and two of your size, but this little lady is perfectly fine."

Jester knocked on the table. "Well, what do they need us for?" He asked. "It's not as if we have something they don't. Anything we can do the nulls can do in double-time, and better."

Kor smiled into his caf, wrinkles forming around his green eyes. "The Clan Skirata has been pretty active, with them taking on the galaxy and all, so they do appreciate a hand every now and then. Plus, Well, they thought a couple of people there might prefer to work with us than rather than them."

"What?" Fives asked. "We don't know anyone in this..." He trailed of, staring into space, Jester resisted the urge to look behind him.

Than his brother snapped back into reality, grinned at Jesters, smile bright and eyes sparkling.

"Well, that will be great! That old Laati Phixer!"

Finally, the credit dropped for Jester as well. He smiled. "Wonder how she's doing..."

Kor smiled "She and Cath have opened shop again and are currently involved in making the imperial's lives as difficult as possible." The older mando held up a hand and waived off Five's and Jester's protests.

"She is doing well, as is Carth. The boy has more street smarts than us could know and both have their heads on straight. I said they are involved, not that they are taking the risky jobs."

He rubbed a calloused hand over his brow.

"In fact, what we are going to involve them in is probably the worst thing they have been into."

Well, Jester drained his cup. "Gonna make some chow before we land." This was a new turn indeed, and a surprising one to boot.


End file.
